climate change Articles

Today I’m guest posting at MCAF . Please click the link to read the full post.

Today is a warm day. You are not looking at fog creeping over Los Angeles. You are looking at brown haze that covers my city dropping particulate matter into the eyes, ears, mouths and noses of it all. We exercise and breathe in deeply gasping fresh air only to breathe in brown dust and dust too small to be seen.

My kids know that we don’t eat foods that have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them. My kids know that they are only allowed to eat food with ingredients they can pronounce. Hydro-Metho-Dextro-Ethate foods are not something I’d give my children, or even my dog.

If the corn refiners have their way we’ll have to tell the kids that Corn Sugar is an invented item by the corn refiners. I will have to explain to my children that Corn Sugar means that Corn has been processed in ways that only scientists understand and that those scientists are trying to make that chemical look like food by calling it Corn Sugar.

That is what I’ll do.

We are fat. We are a nation of fatties who subsidize cheap food so that we can stay fat. We, as a species, have survived becuase we store fat so efficiently. We eat when we’re not hungry so that we can survive famine. It doesn’t make us bad people, it makes us adaptable.

Now we need to use our brains so that we can override our basic need to store fat for the famine that isn’t coming. Real food has roots or a mother. A tomato on your plate looks just like it did on the vine, the same goes for grapes, corn, apples, lettuce, beans and legumes. Meat should be fresh, it should be organic, and if you’re really lucky it will come from a trusted rancher.

The Corn Refiners are launching a huge campaign to rename High Fructose Corn Syrup. Moms are smack dab in the middle. Ladies, we do the bulk of the grocery shopping. Take your children with you to the market so that they understand what food should be. Better yet, take them to a farmer’s market where corn comes on an ear, and strawberries are only sold in the summer time.

They will woo you. Mom Central will promote the hell out of them, but I’m asking the Moms to collectively say “no thank you” to processed foods. Your children will thank you, your health insurance will thank you, your waistline will thank you.

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The folks over at MomStart.com are who prompted this post. I understand that they had a really flattering phone call with the Corn Refiners, but I want y’all to see who is paying for mom blogs. The content is full of misinformation about sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup (they’re trying to sell you fruit swimming in it), and on the sidebar you’ll see Healthy Choice (I’d beg to differ), as well as Sugar to prevent Childhood Hunger. You cannot fight Childhood hunger with dessert, it simply doesn’t work that way.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is a lovely blogger. There is no part of me that believes she is anything but a woman who wants to do right by her kids. I also think she represents the middle of the road with blogging. This appears to be a successful blog, with a large audience, and the monetization that we all see (I’m sure there’s stuff I’m missing) on the front page is processed food and dessert.

I love mom bloggers. I love my kids, and I love real food.

How many of you will be able to say no to food processors, both online and at the grocery store?

Is it too soon for comedy, or will our sense of humor save us?

What do you think? Honestly, I have no opinion right now.

I’m pretty sure people in and around the gulf will have a strong opinion.

I haven’t written about the BP oil disaster, because it makes me cry.

I’m not saying that to be funny, cheeky or dramatic. When I think of the environmental disaster that BP has unleashed on our oceans, I start to cry. I can’t help it.

I have a love affair with the ocean. I was in my late 30′s when Jean-Michel and his amazing team from Ocean Futures Society took me underwater for the first time. That’s right, I was a beach kid. I was raised with surf and sand, but I’d never really looked at the world under the waves.

I am in love with the ocean. My children are in love with the ocean.

My children snorkel and dive into the kelp forests that surround Catalina Island, and chase schools of Garibaldi while shark families wiggle inches below us. My husband and I race to shine lights on giant lobster during night dives, and we delight in the Bluebanded Goby during the day.

My experience is that looking underwater changes the way you see the world. It changes the way we consume, how much we are willing to waste, and what we dispose of.

The oceans do not belong to man. The most we can hope for is a short invitation to visit. It is not our home.

So when I see this terrible excuse for an apology I am livid. Since BP has set YouTube up in a manner that does not allow me to embed their video on this site, I’ll go ahead and transcribe it here for you. Tony Hayward’s content is in bold, my comments are in italics:

The gulf spill is a tragedy that never should have happened. This is the sentence that comes closest to truth. This is NOT a spill. A spill is when a tanker tips over. This is a geyser undersea. This is a dramatic amount of oil that was meant to be underground.

I’m Tony Hayword. BP has taken full responsibility for cleaning up the spill in the gulf. This is patently untrue. BP has taken limited responsibility. In May they tried to blame it on the rig operator.

We’ve help organize the largest environmental response in this country’s history. Yes, you are responsible for the largest disasters in our country’s history. Remember the explosions in Texas City in 2005? Remember the spill in Alaska in 2006. I wonder why America hasn’t banned BP from it’s borders?

More than 2 million feet of boom, 30 planes, and over 1,300 boats are working to protect the shoreline. Note that the oceans are not worth protecting, only the shoreline. Why? Well, there are no news cameras in the middle of the ocean. Yet. Do not mistake BP for a company that cares one whit about the planet.

When oil reaches the shore, thousands of people are ready to clean it up. What is BP going to do when they are ill? They will be ill. Also, by the time the oil reaches the shore IT IS TOO LATE. The damage is done.

We will honor all legitimate claims and our cleanup efforts will not come at any cost to taxpayers. Bullshit. It already has. People are losing their businesses and their homes. This reduces the tax base. We lost financially already. When BP Executives file personal bankruptcy (as opposed to the moral bankruptcy they already claim) then I’ll know that I, the American taxpayer, is not footing the bill.

For those affected and your families, I’m deeply sorry. Even my eight year old knows that sometimes sorry isn’t enough. Sorry doesn’t fix things.

The gulf is home to thousands of BP employees and we all feel the impact. I don’t care about your employees until you start caring about my children’s future. They will find new jobs, perhaps in the green sector.

To all the volunteers and the strong support of the government, thank you. I thought you had this under control. You shouldn’t need help from government agencies, or were you going to reimburse us taxpayers for the valuable time you used?

We know it is our responsibility to keep you informed and do everything we can so this never happens again. If BP wasn’t allowed on American Soil or in American waters this probably wouldn’t happen again… here.

We will get this done. We will make this right. No, you won’t. You can’t. Not in this lifetime.

If you want to see what the oil looks like (remember that like an iceberg, you’re only seeing a tiny bit of it) take a look at this set on Flickr.

The car shopping is sort of fun. I love cars more than a little. I love big rumbly engines, I love revving a car engine and feeling it move under me. I love taking a turn so fast that the car turns sideways just a little, but rights itself to speed up again.

I love talking torque.

I also love the planet, as does my daughter. I’m buying a hybrid because Jane is making me. My Mom has two hybrids, they love them. My Dad has two hybrids, he is looking for a 10 cylinder. I’m so totally my dad’s kid. I want to want a hybrid, but really, deep down… all I want is a fast car, preferably with rear wheel drive and an engine that roars at me.

My husband is a Saint. Not really a Great Saint, you know, the kind that lets you have chickens. My husband is the kind of Saint that lets me spend whatever I want on whatever kind of car I want, whenever I want it. So I’ve test driven everything from Hyundai to Porsche, Ford to Cadillac and everything in between.

I’m going to buy the car that ensures my children the best future I can. I’m going to buy a hybrid, because it will pollute less. I’m going to buy a car instead of leasing it, because (as my daughter points out) we don’t keep our cars long enough. I’m not going for the hybrid I’d really like best, because it’s not good for the planet, and the planet belongs to my children. I’ll be buying a midsize hybrid with great safety ratings, because I love my children, and because it’s the right thing to do.

Excuse me if I’m not jumping for joy.

I’ve talked briefly about the Summit to the Summit party I attended last week, and I’d promised you more.

Summit on the Summit is a program created by Kenna. Kenna is a Grammy nominated recording artist originally from Ethiopia. A few years ago his father contracted a water borne illness and was deathly ill. Kenna’s father then told him the story about losing his best friend to a water borne illness at age four. Oh, and then at age 7. Another at age 11 and yet another at age 14.

Clean water in a developing country can be the difference between life and death. From infants to the elderly and everyone in between, water matters. If you recall psych 101 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs nothing can happen until the physiological needs have been met.

How does this relate to me? I know, I know, I asked the same question. Naturally, you can follow Summit on the Summit as they send out live tweets and climb Mt. Kilamanjaro. You can support Summit on the Summit Financially too.

You can also look at your own back yard. If there are water bottles piling up in your trash bin, I’d urge you to think about your health and the health of the planet. I have never been a fan of the individual water bottle. First off, I don’t want to drink water that’s more expensive than gasoline. That’s just not okay. Secondly, there isn’t a set of standards in place for water bottling. The City of Los Angeles provides me with more information about my water than a bottler.

I don’t like waste. I like the idea of using PUR, filtering the water I get from the city (for pennies), and enjoying clean fresh water at home. Unfortunately the world’s most developed nations have many of the same issues as emerging nations. Here in the US we have everything from pharmaceuticals to weed killers. Oh, also, they can add flavors… which is wonderful if you want it and weird if you don’t (this house is split on that one).

I got this information from the folks at PUR, which typically I’d summarize for you, but this time, well, they got it right:

Water Filtration:

PUR Water Filtration products do far more than provide great-tasting water. PUR reduces many unwanted contaminants to provide clean water right from your tap.

• PUR is the first leading brand to claim removal of pharmaceuticals identified in U.S. tap water – more than 99 percent for PUR faucet filters and more than 96 percent for PUR pitchers.*
• The main workhorse of PUR filters is activated carbon. Contaminants in water collide with the activated carbon particles and get trapped in the intricate pore structure of the carbon, thus removing the contaminant from the water stream.
• PUR filtration systems remove 99.9 percent of microbial cysts such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium parvum, which can lead to intestinal illness.
• PUR filtration systems remove 98 percent of lead and 97 percent of chlorine (taste and odor).
• PUR is the only leading pitcher certified by NSF to claim reduction of the weed killer atrazine.
• PUR is certified by NSF International and the Water Quality Association (WQA) and is tested by other third-party laboratories.
• PUR reduces contaminants in the water while leaving fluoride, which is essential for developing and maintaining healthy teeth in children and adults, and has been granted the American Dental Association (ADA) Seal of Approval.

Drinking Water Infrastructure and Contamination:

• In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s water infrastructure a grade of a D-.
• The Environmental Protection Agency reported approximately 10-20 percent of human exposure to lead is attributable to lead in tap water.
• In April of 2009, The Associated Press reported that a vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — were found in the drinking water supplies of 51 million Americans.
• In August of 2009, The New York Times reported that the common weed killer atrazine may be dangerous at lower concentrations than what is currently allowed by the EPA, which may lead to birth defects and low birth weights in children.

Most importantly PUR has an ongoing commitment to giving. Every time you purchase a PUR system you are also supporting Dr. Allgood’s work, providing children everywhere with clean water.

Ooh, also, I met some of the folks at PUR and I’d really recommend you follow them on Twitter. They’re just nice. Really, nice is the new black. Dr Greg Allgood is @DrGregAllgood, Bruce Lux is @BDL3556, Rob Hite is @Hite RJ and Suzette and Dave Tomasi might have to be dragged into the world of social media kicking in screaming. Cuz ya know… they’re sorta adulty about it all.

*The kind folks at PUR brought me to a great party, this is my thank you.